My Greatest Challenge Now

I am now approaching my tenth month of living in my vehicle as my only home. (This time around. I began living out of my vehicle in order to be able to afford to perform this journalism since 2001,  with only brief reprieves in friend’s homes since then.) 

The RV I had invested $2,500 in last December of 2012 was seized by the seller when my monthly payment was late only a week, due to a failed work commitment by my former patient I had been working for. When I promised him the payment the following week, he became threatening, cancelled his sales agreement with me, and seized the RV that I had already paid him $2,500 for.

I had no funds for legal recourse, and fearing retaliation and his threats, I was forced to move out. I have been living in my vehicle ever since March of 2013 now. 

“Car camping” always becomes more challenging in the winter months, of course. It is cost prohibitive to run the engine for heat at night due to the high cost of gas, and so I sleep under my sleeping bag at night in my unheated vehicle.

The challenges of “car camping” include finding a safe location in which to park every night, with a clean restroom available as well. There is no kitchen to cook in, no refrigerator to store food in, no bathroom to take a shower in, no easy chair to relax in at the end of a tiring day. I must put up window shades in each window every night for privacy.

Even though I have a camp stove, in the winter it is frequently too cold to stand outside a use a camp stove to cook on.

Of course, with only thin window glass separating you from everything outside your vehicle, safety is always a major concern.

I have praying for several months now for the grace of  God to make provision to obtain a truck and camper at this time, so that I can finally have a kitchen and bathroom in my vehicle. 

One person offered to pay rent for me for a room. I was very thankful, but politely declined. I do not believe in paying rent for a place to live in. Why? You have nothing to show for your money when you move out. How much better it is to be making monthly payments instead on that which is yours to own instead. This is why I will never pay rent.

The Bible declares that “..the just shall live by faith.” The Word of God also declares that God will supply our needs according to our riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Jesus said that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God…and His words include His eternal promises for our provision as we obey and serve Him.

When Jesus Christ promised His disciples that those who initially forsook what they had in this world to follow Him, they would receive a hundredfold in this world, and in the world to come eternal life. And He clearly referred to “houses and lands” as well.

I am at the point where it is difficult to move forward in the things God has called me to do, due to having no home base to operate from. I recently had to give away a beautiful new printer/copy machine, because I had no where to set it up to operate it. I had purchased it initially to print my Christian testimony tracts to hand out as I traveled and ministered. But such work simply cannot be done inside a vehicle satisfactorily.

For this and many other reasons, I have been praying for the grace of God to help me locate a truck and camper to obtain, to live out of and continue my work in. I must remain mobile for my journalism and Christians outreach. While I am able to sleep in my present vehicle I have now, I can do little else in it besides travel.

As I thought about this and prayed, I remembered how I had previously given away a complete RV to one Christian couple in crisis, Bob and Amy. I had also given away several cars to other Christians in crisis. Jesus promised in His word that the measure we give, is the measure we shall also receive. This is His spoken word of promise, given to us for times of need.

Simply pray with me that God will manifest His mercy and His way of providing for  this need at this time. I am very weary of living like this in my vehicle now since March. You really cannot get a deep rest when you sleep at a truck stop or rest area, because you always have to remain on guard due to unknown safety hazards involving both people and vehicles constantly around you.

Also, the noise of trucks and their engines running all night is inescapable, plus the sounds of traffic nearby operating 24 hours a day.

As I travel across the nation, I often pass by storage areas where people have stored their RV’s and campers. Many are literally mothballed there, and only used a few weeks a year for a vacation. And with some older couples, some recreation vehicles are not being used at all.

Pray with me that God will fulfill the promise of His eternal word. Pray that  the mercies I have shown to many others throughout the years will be multiplied back unto me to meet this very important need at this time. I promised a Christian woman in ministry, Cisco Wheeler, who recently lost her own vehicle to a tragic accident, that I would give her my SUV to support her ministry, when God provides me with an Arctic Fox camper and truck as a “home to go home to” at last. 

(Arctic Fox campers are 4 season and designed to be lived in year round. Many campers however are not, and their pipes will freeze up in the winter time. It is always important to have a four season recreational vehicle if a person plans to live in it year round.)

Yes, in the meantime I am making the very most of what God has provided for me. We must all do this with what God has provided for us. I am thankful every single day for what I have. 

But put yourself in my place. What would you do without a kitchen to cook in, without a bathroom to take a warm shower in or relieve yourself, and without a haven of rest, safety and refuge to get away from the noises and chaos of the world around you??? 

And so, your prayers of faith for this need to be supplied are deeply appreciated at this time. I continue to believe God for great miracles, including John’s recovery and miracles for him beyond what men can do. And I believe in the promises of God for what we need to continue in His important work in this lost world of today.

Somehow, as I see friends and people around me living in $250,000.00 or more homes and driving cars that cost three times what mine did, I do not have a problem asking God to provide something as simple and basic as this.

Thank you for your prayers…and let’s see what our Almighty God will do in response. John and I are praying for the readers of my blog every time I spend time with him. God bless you all!